AfriGeneas Military Research Forum Archive

Talking Flipper

Help:
For the past several years I've been researching certain aspects of the story of the unfortunate (and all too often, elusive) Lt. Henry O. Flipper--the first black graduate of West Point (Class of 1877)

As part of my research I have begun to conduct a series of taped phone interviews (on my dime) with a wide range of people who have written about, spoken out, or otherwise expressed their views about Flipper. This list includes historians, librarians, archivists, writers, artists, military and civilian lawyers, army officers,
West Pointers,re-enactors, buffs, just regular (and well-read) folks with a point of view--as well as a smattering of genuine full mooners.

Basically this is what I am asking:

. What "brought" you to Flipper's story.

. what sources (primary, secondary or a mix) have you used to gather information aboutFlipper

. what sources impressed you the most--the least

. what is your view on the "fairness" of Flipper's court-martial

. what is your opinion of fairly recent and more recent developments in Flipper's tale (here I mean the l976 posthumous army honorable discharge and the l999 presidential pardon).

I'd be delighted to talk with anyone with a view on Flipper. The phone interviews take between 30 min. and an hour.